I’m old enough to remember very well July 20, 1969 – the day fifty-seven years ago that men walked on the moon for the first time. In fact, I was 16 years old and was keeping a journal. Our family was in southern Alabama visiting my brother and his young family.

We were all excited to watch the television coverage of the event. Just by chance, last week I came across my 1969 journal. It was interesting and a bit comical to read a 16-year-old’s thoughts and reactions to various things. I was especially drawn to my entries from July of that year.

I was a real nerd when it came to following NASA and everything about the space program. It was an exciting time and stressful time. You will also notice that every week I took note of how many Americans were killed in the Vietnam War. Here’s a sampling from my journal:

Sunday, July 13, 1969

          At 9:32 a.m., Wednesday, July 16, Apollo 11 will be launched from Cape Kennedy. My family will be on vacation in Alabama then, so Neil Armstrong will set foot on the moon at 1:17 a.m. Central Daylight Time. About 20 minutes later astronaut Aldrin will get out of “Eagle,” as the lunar module will be known. Astronaut Armstrong will be walking around on the moon for 2 hours and 40 minutes. It looks like I will be up until at least 4:00 a.m., Monday, July 21. After all, this is a once in a lifetime event. I imagine Queen Isabella would have stayed up all night when Christopher Columbus got to America, if she had had television to watch it on.

          Something that puzzles me more than almost anything else is that some people are not interested at all in the space program.

4:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 16, 1969

          What a day! Excitement is continually building up inside me! Blast-off of Apollo XI took place at 9:32 a.m. We watched the live TV coverage until about 11:30. NBC had live TV coverage until 1:10 p.m. About 12:30 it was “Go, for TLI!” (Go, for translunar injection!) Now the astronauts: Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael Collins are “coasting to the moon. Their speed dropped from more than 24,000 m.p.h. to 7,600 m.p.h. I can think of nothing to compare a spacecraft launch with.

          I hope that someday I can witness a launch. There is such thrust that the ground trembles for miles. I would probably faint if I were really there.

          At 4:00 this afternoon on the radio I heard that President Nixon has proclaimed Monday, July 21 as a National Holiday. Many nations of the world have already planned to do that. David Brinkley of NBC News reported that all countries of the world that have TVs, except maybe Russia and several others, will pick up the live TV transmission from the lunar surface Monday morning.

          When Armstrong and Aldrin get out of the lunar module (“Eagle”) they will set up a TV camera, which will be on them all the time they’re on the moon. The three networks are going to have continuous coverage from noon Sunday until 6:00 p.m. Monday, Eastern Time. I don’t want to miss a thing!

6:00 p.m., July 16, 1969

          25 million Americans saw the launch on TV. The space craft, rocket and all was 36 stories tall.

11:55 p.m., July 16, 1969

          On the “Late News” we saw recorded TV pictures of Earth taken earlier this evening from Apollo XI. We got the pictures at 11:10.

11:50 p.m., Thursday, July 17, 1969

          Bill Morrison of Harrisburg got our TV this afternoon to work on while we’re in Alabama. Marie and I went to Uncle Gene and Aunt Louise’s house tonight to watch the live TV transmission from Apollo XI, 150,000 miles from the earth, toward the moon. Pictures of Earth and inside the Apollo of the astronauts, their food cabinet, star chart, and instrument panels. We are getting up at 4:00 a.m. to drive to Andalusia, Alabama, so maybe I better use common sense and go to bed.

          Announced today that in the week ending last Saturday, July 12, that 148 Americans were killed in Vietnam.

Friday, July 18, 1969

          We saw about 15 minutes of an unscheduled TV transmission from Apollo XI. It was of “Buzz” Aldrin checking out things in the lunar module, and also of Mike Collins. Armstrong took the pictures.

Saturday, July 19, 1969

          Apollo XI started orbiting the Moon today. Tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow afternoon Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin will land on the Moon – for the first time in history! – in the lunar module (LEM) which is called “Eagle.” The command module is called “Columbia.” I am so excited! I can’t wait for tomorrow!!

About 3:15 p.m., Sunday, July 20, 1969

          Man is 4 minutes and 30 seconds from landing on the Moon for the first time! The descent engines were fired on “the Eagle” at T-12:00 (That’s T minus 12 minutes zero seconds.

          “We’re on the Moon.” Armstrong and Aldrin had to drive “Eagle” manually a little; there were 2-foot boulders on the landing site. They got it over the rocks perfectly. They landed at 4:17:40 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. It was announced about 5:00 Central Time that the Moon walk will start at 9:00 Eastern Time tonight, instead of about 2:00 a.m. tomorrow.

7:50 p.m., Central Time, July 20, 1969

          It is estimated that 500,000,000 people in the world are watching Apollo XI coverage on TV today!

8:45 p.m. Central Time, July 20, 1969

          Newsman (NBC) David Brinkley just said that we have finally found a place where Americans can go where there will be no pickets holding signs saying “Get out of Vietnam” or “Yankee, Go Home!”

          My three-year-old nephew is really interested in Apollo XI. He is full of questions that I can’t answer.

9:55 p.m. Central Time, July 20, 1969

          Neil Armstrong is on the “porch” of “Eagle” and will soon start down the ladder.

          We saw on Live TV man’s first step on the Moon. Armstrong’s first words: “One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.” It’s really fantastic. The official time was 9:56 p.m. Central Daylight Time, when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the Moon.

          About 10:15 “Buzz” Aldrin is on the ground now. He first said, “Beautiful! Beautiful! Magnificent desolation!”

          One just said there is a tendency to go backwards, for the ground is soft.

          10:25 They just unveiled the plaque and one read it to us. They’ve put up the U.S. flag. We are getting incredible TV pictures from the Moon. About 10:50 C. Time we heard and saw President Nixon talking to them and they talked back. This is truly unbelievable. Before talking to President Nixon they were running and hopping to see what the best way of movement was.

9:20 a.m. Central Time, Monday, July 21, 1969

          We watched TV coverage of the first manned moon landing until 12:30 a.m.. It was about 12:10 when Aldrin and Armstrong had to get back into “Eagle.” It was so unbelievable! This morning on TV we are watching the moon walk again.

          Lift-off from the Moon is at 12:51 p.m. today, Central Daylight Time.

Tuesday, noon, July 22, 1969

          Yesterday watched some Apollo coverage and napped some.

Wednesday, July 23, 1969

Went to the NASA Testing Center near Bay St. Louis. Did not wait for the 10:00 tour.

Went to Michoud Assembly Facility of NASA at New Orleans. Just rode by it. Was a big building.

We had three great hours in the French Quarter in New Orleans, 11:00 until 2:00 P.M. today Enjoyed watching artists sitting on sidewalks painting portraits of people. Really saw a lot of talent. Beautiful “lace” balconies. Narrow, crowded streets. Saw some long-haired, wildly-dressed hippies. I would like to stay there for a week. We went to Preservation Hall – a place which at night has traditional Dixieland Jazz. I wanted to go back tonight. Crossed the Mississippi River twice. Big disappointment! Only ½ mile wide. Fancy bridges, but the river was really no big thing.

We got on the longest bridge in the world at 3:07. It was the 24-mile bridge over Lake Ponchartrain. Had to pay $1.00 toll. Got off the bridge at 3:30. Staying at “LaGrace” Western Motel in Hattiesburg tonight. Have a COLOR TV in the motel room! Bought July 25 edition of Life tonight. About Apollo XI.                                   

11:10 A.M., Thursday, July 24, 1969

182 Americans were killed in the last week of fighting in Vietnam.

11:30 A.M. Coverage of the splashdown and recovery of Apollo XI is starting. Sure wish I could watch on TV. This is the only one this summer and we have to be on vacation. Apollo XI is now going more than 24,000 m.p.h. Before splashdown it will near 25,000 m.p.h.

When Apollo entered “blackout” it was going 24,630 m.p.h. There is no communication during “black-out.” We’re in Jones, Mississippi now, got off Interstate 59.

Apollo XI has been sighted by recovery ship, the USS Hornet. It streaked through the sky. The heat shield was something like 4,900 degrees F.

Splashdown! They’re in the water. We’re in Laural, Mississippi. Apollo XI is 9 miles from the Hornet. It is upside down. Will bob around like that until floatation collar is inflated and rights it. No radio contact, for antenna is under water… Two inflated bags on top of Apollo XI have turned it right-side up.

2:45 P.M.   The Apollo XI crew are all fine!

Reading my 1969 journal brought back a lot of memories and reminded me how obsessed I was with writing down the exact time we were learning things about the Apollo XI mission.

Space travel today gets little publicity, so it must be difficult for the 16-year-olds today to imagine how exciting it was to watch the first landing on the moon. No one knew in advance how solid the moon’s surface would be. I remember we marveled at the little clouds of dust Armstrong and Aldrin’s boots kicked up as they more or less bounced as they took steps.

I always felt bad for Michael Collins. He had to just keep orbiting the moon while the other two astronauts got to land on it and run around on it.

Back in the day, there was what today would be called an urban legend that the moon was made of green cheese. People stopped saying that after July 20, 1969.

By the way, it was a big deal that our motel room in Hattiesburg, Mississippi had a color TV. We had a black-and-white TV at home, and so did our brother in Alabama.

Janet